Health Headlines – Friday, January 15 – The TOP healthcare news for those on the go…

New York Times:Food and the Single Girl (Jen A. Miller)
On a recent morning, my run took me past our local bagel shop, just early enough that the blooming scent of carby goodness wafted out the front door and chased me down the street. When I got home, I dished out my usual breakfast of plain, full-fat yogurt, topped with fruit (a pear that day) and maple syrup, then typed out the following tweet: “Also pro tip: don’t run past the bagel shop if you don’t plan on stopping for a bagel.”Searching for Cancer Maps in Free-Floating DNA (Carl Zimmer)
Loose pieces of DNA course through our veins. As cells in our body die, they cast off fragments of genes, some of which end up in the bloodstream, saliva and urine.Seeking a ‘Happy Gut’ for Better Health (Anahad O’ Conner)
For much of his life, Dr. Vincent Pedre, an internist in New York City, suffered from digestive problems that left him feeling weak and sick to his stomach. As an adult he learned he had irritable bowel syndrome, or I.B.S., a chronic gut disorder that affects up to 10 percent of AmericansHeartburn Drugs Tied to Kidney Problems (Nicholas Bakalar)
Proton pump inhibitors, or P.P.I.s, the commonly used heartburn medicines, may increase the risk for kidney disease. P.P.I.s are sold under several brand names, including Nexium, Prevacid and Prilosec, and previous studies have linked their use to bone fracture, pneumonia and Clostridium difficile infection.Straddling Conventional and Alternative Cancer Treatment (Barron H. Lerner)
When Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez died in July, there was not much notice. He did not get an obituary in The New York Times or in most other major media outlets.

Washington Post:NIH’s big cancer database coming soon (Lenny Bernstein)
Most experts believe that one important element of Vice President Biden’s cancer “moonshot” has to be a major database that researchers and clinicians can access to help them develop new therapies or treat patients.Are the mentally ill being unfairly targeted by the FBI’s gun list? (Amy Ellis Nutt)
When President Obama recently outlined steps to reduce gun violence, mental-health advocates applauded his proposal to spend $500 million to aid access to care for the mentally ill. Advocates, however, are divided over whether proposals to ease the sharing of information with the FBI’s background-check system breach patient rights.FDA rejects drug for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (Brady Dennis)
The Food and Drug Administration has rejected a drug that would have become the first treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare and ultimately fatal condition that affects about one in every 3,500 boys.

CNN:The new ‘Just say no to drugs’ (Kelly Wallace)
Sam Motsay, by all accounts, was your typical boy next door: honor roll student, basketball player, band member, devoted big brother. But on May 11, 2014, Mother’s Day, he made a decision — a decision that that took his life and shattered the future for his parents and younger brother.Flint water crisis: Michigan attorney general to investigate (Jason Hanna)
The water crisis in Flint — the Michigan city grappling with lead contamination in its drinking water following a cost-saving measure — is now getting high-level attention from the state’s top legal official.

BBC:Organ donations vetoed by hundreds of bereaved families (Jane Dreaper)
Bereaved families have blocked the donation of organs from 547 UK registered donors since 2010 – about one in seven cases, figures show. NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) says it will no longer seek the consent of families formally, to make such “overrides” more exceptional. Instead, they will be given a leaflet explaining consent – or authorisation in Scotland – rests with the deceased.Safer Down’s test backed for NHS use (James Gallagher)
Pregnant women in the UK should soon get a safer and more accurate test for Down’s syndrome on the NHS, to reduce the risk of miscarriage. The UK National Screening Committee has backed the test, saying it would reduce anxiety for expectant mothers. The move would prevent thousands of invasive procedures, in which one in every 200 women loses her baby.Ebola virus: New case emerges in Sierra Leone (N/A)
Sierra Leone officials have confirmed a death from Ebola, hours after the World Health Organization declared the latest West Africa outbreak over. The country was declared free of the virus on 7 November, and the region as a whole was cleared when Liberia was pronounced Ebola-free on Thursday. Tests on a person who died in northern Sierra Leone proved positive, an Ebola test centre spokesman told the BBC.Pattern of brain chatter ‘clue to anaesthesia response’ (N/A)
Taking readings of brain activity before patients go for surgery could help doctors give a more accurate dose of anaesthetic, researchers suggest. At present, a patient’s body weight is the main factor in deciding the dose. But a University of Cambridge study indicated people with high levels of brain connectivity or “chatter” needed a larger dose to put them under.‘New research hope’ from pancreatic cancer tissue bank (Jane Dreaper)
Medical researchers hope a new bank storing tissue from patients will give them a clearer insight into pancreatic cancer. This complex illness has the worst 10-year survival rate of any cancer, with most patients being told they may have less than a year to live. The bank will collect samples from six hospitals in England and Wales.

The Telegraph:Elderly patients refusing to leave hospital because of care costs, NHS bosses fear (Kate McCann)
Elderly patients are refusing to leave hospital because of the potential cost of paying for care homes, NHS bosses fear. Figures published yesterday showed the number of pensioners taking up hospital beds when they should be at home or in a care home has increased by over 15 per cent in the last year.